Amanda Seales of ‘Insecure’ Revisits Her Harlem Haunts

As Amanda Seales strode into Ginny’s Supper Club, the nightspot under the Red Rooster in Harlem on a recent Thursday, a young woman pulled her aside, saying, “You are fabulous, honey.” At the fan’s request, the two took a pout-perfect selfie.

“Tag me,” said Ms. Seales, an actress, comedian, writer, producer, hip-hop artist, radio personality, slam poet and former V.J., who moved to Los Angeles in 2015. She had spent the previous 12 years in Harlem, trying to get famous. To come back having mostly succeeded means she’ll gladly pose for any number of selfies.

Taking a seat near the bar, Ms. Seales, 36, who plays the fancy publicist Tiffany on “Insecure,” ordered cod fritters and sipped sparkling water as she nodded in time to the alto saxophonist Sharel Cassity. Ms. Cassity was blowing a golden instrument, as sleek and streamlined as an Art Deco train, and in the candlelight, Ms. Seales was golden herself, from the tips of her springy curls to the toes of her metallic sneakers, with a plunging pale gilt dress in between.

A less confident woman might have swathed herself in fabric tape to prevent a wardrobe malfunction. Not Ms. Seales. “At a certain point you just have to have a mind over matter about nipples,” she said. “Anytime I don’t have to wear a bra is a good day.”

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Ms. Seales at Ginny's Supper Club in Harlem.CreditAn Rong Xu for The New York Times

After the set, Ms. Seales put on her leather jacket and emerged onto Malcolm X Boulevard, marveling how much had changed since she left Harlem. She moved there in the early 2000s after graduating from SUNY Purchase.

While living in the Sugar Hill neighborhood, she made the rounds, auditioning for television, recording hip-hop tracks, free-styling with the Roots and D.J.ing at the Apollo. To make ends meet, she was a waitress at the Sugar Shack and a hostess at the Odeon; she was fired from Heartland Brewery.

She once tried to book Ginny’s for “Mo’ Betta Wu,” a cabaret show she produced that reinterpreted Wu-Tang songs as jazz standards. The club turned her down. “Remember when you were begging them to let you on here,” she said to herself. Now the club wouldn’t work for her anymore. “It would fill up too fast,” she said with pride.

Harlem itself has also changed. She was amazed by what she called “the next-level Whole Foods” on West 125th Street. Still, this trip to Harlem wasn’t as traumatic as the one she took last year, when she’d gone to get some West Indian food from a favorite place and found a Papa John’s instead.

As she walked south on Malcolm X, she could see the apartment of a friend, the actor Brandon Victor Dixon. She remembered how, more than a decade ago when she booked a gig as a V.J. on MTV2, he’d said to her, “You’re about to blow up.” She did, but it took a while. (She texted Mr. Dixon, who is appearing as Aaron Burr in “Hamilton,” and asked to meet up. Mr. Dixon texted back: “Onstage woman.”)

Ms. Seales landed the “Insecure” role after meeting Issa Rae, the series’ creator, via Twitter. The casting directors initially asked Ms. Seales to audition for the role of Tasha, a foxy bank teller, but Ms. Seales knew this wasn’t for her. “I don’t have the proportions for ‘hood hot,’” she said. So Ms. Rae asked her to read for another role, Tiffany.

Tiffany is smart, sociable, a little princessy. And the role called for a 30-something Ivy League graduate. “Oh you mean, my actual life?” Ms. Seales said, though she prefers sparkly kicks to glass slippers.

A block away, she arrived at Harlem Shake, a retro-themed diner, where she ordered truffle fries. Harlem Shake divides its wine into three categories: Cheap, Good, Bourgie. “You know which one Tiffany would choose,” Ms. Seales said, before sticking with a watermelon cooler.

Ms. Seales has forceful opinions about race, class and gender, and she isn’t shy about expressing them on Twitter, in her comedy, over fries. A recent viral moment: confronting Caitlyn Jenner about racism during a dinner party livestreamed on Katy Perry’s YouTube channel in June. “This country is here for you,” she told Ms. Jenner. “This country ain’t here for me in the same way, sis.”

During that charged conversation, Ms. Seales kept herself calm by digging her nails into her palm while she spoke. She knew that being seen as “another angry black woman,” she said, might devalue the message.

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Ms. Seales and her truffle fries at Harlem Shake.CreditAn Rong Xu for The New York Times

As she moved to an outdoor table at Harlem Shake, Ms. Seales was feeling anything but angry. She smiled when a vintage Mustang rolled past. “I love cars,” she said. “I’m a nerd.” Other enthusiasms: “Star Wars” (She has a Jedi tattoo and a cat named Lando Catrissian), “Star Trek,” “Lord of the Rings” and “Harry Potter.”

Ms. Seales wears her nerdiness proudly. She has a master’s degree from Columbia University’s Institute for Research in African-American Studies and goes full fangirl on black academics. She is pitching a game show, “Smart Funny & Black,” which tests contestants on their knowledge of black history and culture. She’s also busy with her stand-up, sketch writing, an autobiographical YouTube show (“Get Your Life”) and an advice series for Harper’s Bazaar”(“Gem Droppin’”) — not to mention her new status as a regular on “Insecure.”

“Tiffany is probably who I would have turned out to be if I got famous at 21, so it’s fun to play this alternate-universe version of me,” she said.

Back in the real world, Ms. Seales looked out past the tables toward the sidewalks and the people and the buildings. They seemed small to her, she said, almost like a toy model.

Ms. Seales thought about it for a moment while she speared a fry. “Part of the reason why I’m looking at Harlem so weird is because I’m not stuck,” she said. “At one point it felt like I was stuck. And now? No.”